Groboy, created by Groguard, is a C.H.I.P. Pro-powered handheld system designed to run retro console emulators and games on the go.

It’s also a testament to the open source community, readily available data sheets and manufacturing houses, and the tenacity to teach yourself engineering. Groguard, like many of us, is self-taught and pursuing his passion for making through custom projects.

After 4 revisions of the board, Groguard had the design where he wanted it. The custom OSH Park PCB at the heart of Groboy routes signal lines from the 2.8″ TFT display, headphones jack, internal 2500mAh LiPo battery (he estimates 3-5 hours of battery life, though he’s not rigorously tested it), and the PCA9555 I2C GPIO expander, which manages inputs from the 11 onboard buttons, to the respective input and output pins on C.H.I.P. Pro.

My Omega2 Onion shield, using a AMS1117 for 3.3V and CH340G for USB to serial. Kind of ugly soldering here as I didn’t have a tip for the syringe to dispense solder paste, so I just smeared it all over and hoped it reflowed well. It kind of did, but I had a solder blob short on pin 14 +15 on the CH340G, so I just lifted those two legs off the board. I was so eager to get this board tested that I forgot to check that I had these 2mm pin headers. I had just enough to get this thing tested. Time to order more 🙂

Simple breakout board using the dirt cheap IC’s CH340G ($0.30/each on ebay) for Serial and a AMS1117-3.3 ($0.025/each) for power. Breaks out all pins from 2mm to 2.54mm headers. Plugs nicely into two small breadboards for prototyping.